A wide variety of portable traffic markers, as well as directional signs, prohibition signs, barriers and the like, are forever having to be put up temporarily on roads and in squares. Particularly at construction sites on highways and freeways, considerable numbers of portable traffic markers with or without additional traffic signs or lamps have to be put up close to one another, in order to create a visually continuous traffic control system at road sections branching from the usual traffic route. These portable traffic markers are generally fixed to stands, which are also known as footplate stands and which have a footplate, a post and a holder between the post and the footplate.
In conventional portable traffic marker stands, and, in particular those of older design, part of the holder on the footplate generally comprises a pocket of square cross-section. In metal footplates, the socket is formed by structural parts of the footplate and/or by welded-on steel rod sections. In the case of footplates of plastic and the like, the pocket is molded on the upper side of the footplate as a recess. The usually round portable traffic marker tube has at its lower end a rectangular foot adapted for insertion into the pocket. It is partially formed by welded-on steel rod sections. In another version of the portable traffic marker tube, the rectangular foot is formed by a plastic molding of cuboid shape with a round through-tube, into which the portable traffic marker tube is inserted and usually secured against twisting by a rivet.
The portable traffic marker tubes are generally designed as galvanized steel tubes which have a considerable section modulus against bending by virtue of their diameter and their wall thickness. If such a portable traffic marker stand is run over by a vehicle, the portable traffic marker tube is bent and usually even snapped off. Sometimes, the portable traffic marker tube is also torn out of the footplate and hurled away. In cases in which the portable traffic marker tube jams in the holder, the portable traffic marker tube exerts a leverage effect on the footplate on account of its high section modulus, with the result that the side of the footplate corresponding to the side of the portable traffic marker which is hit is lifted. In this situation the footplate may be thrust into the underside of the vehicle driving over it and cause serious damage to the front axle, and in particular, to parts of the steering and brake system. In addition, the vehicle may be deflected from its traveling direction so that it leaves the road or runs into oncoming traffic.